One Piece: The Story of Concho Island
by pokecomic
Summary: Set between the battle with Aokiji and the Water 7 Arc. After the battle with Aokiji, Robin begins to waver from her companions and starts to wonder what she is worth. Just as this is happening, the Strawhats arrive on Concho Island, a place from Robin's past. Who is Raiku and what connection does he have with Robin? And how will the Strawhat crew react when they find out?
1. A Daunting Sunset

Chapter 1: A Daunting Sunset

_Low life, Monster, Demon Child_

These words floated around in Nico Robin's head as she lay across the deck of the ship known as the Going Merry. She was still recovering from her encounter with the Marine Admiral known as Aokiji. "_Does my life even mean anything?_" she wondered, as the ship continued on its way toward the setting horizon in the distance.

Her reencounter with Aokiji had brought up terrible memories of the past. She remembered her time back on Ohara. Life had been much simpler back then, even suffering the abuse of her uncle was much better than her life was now. Now all she ever did was run and hide, trying to make a life from all she had left.

She had thought that she maybe had found a family among the Straw Hat Pirates. They were a little childish at times, but she knew that they were good people. Earning their trust hadn't been that hard either. It had been practically no time at all since she had joined the crew, yet they all already treated her like family. They had even gone on an amazing adventure together to the island in the sky known as Skypiea. For the first time in 20 years, Robin felt like she was around people she could really get to know. For the first time, she wondered if what Saul said all those years ago was true. "_The sea is vast. Surely, someday you will find friends that love and care for you._"

Now that had all changed. Even here, where Robin seemed happiest, her past came back to haunt her. "_Will I ever find peace_," she wondered as she looked at the sunset finally coming to a halt at the horizon. "_Or am I just doomed to a life of sorrow for all time._"

As she sat here wondering this, Robin noticed a commotion going on at the back of the ship. She almost cracked a smile as she looked at the familiar routine that seemed to happen every night on this odd ship.

"Sanji, I'm hungry. Make me something to eat," Luffy obnoxiously shouted at the tall blonde chef who was busy smoking a cigarette off the edge of the ship.

"Yeah, yeah just give me a minute," Sanji replied. If anyone else had asked him to do this at this time of night, he probably would have been angry at them, but constant wearing down from Luffy had taught the chef that any and all resistance was futile when trying to negotiate with the captain's requests.

"Luffy, we just had dinner an hour ago! How the hell are you hungry again?!" Nami said as she had a shock of disbelief on her face.

"Nami's right you know Luffy, overeating is a bad habit to get into when were so low on food," said Usopp, who was busy tinkering with some new gadget.

"Yeah right, says the guy who barley eats anything at all anyway," Luffy said to himself. "How do you even know what eating too much is?"

"Hey I'll have you know I once ate an entire sea king after bravely facing and killing him with my own two fists!"

"WHAT REALLY! NO WAY!" This reply came from Chopper who looked like he was about to fall down out of shock.

"I wouldn't believe everything he tells you," said Zoro who was leaning against the railing of the upper deck. "Anyway, hey eyebrow when's the food coming I'm starving over here."

"I SAID GIVE ME A MINUTE YOU STUPID MARIMO!" Sanji's angry reply was quickly met by one from Zoro.

"YOU WANNA GO; I'LL SLICE YOU INTO BITS AND EAT THOSE INSTEAD!"

"BRING IT, I`LL KICK YOU UNTIL YOU'RE DEAD AND SERVE YOU UP ON THE BARBEQUE!"

As the two continued to fight, Robin, who was still laying down on the deck of the ship, noticed a rumbling noise in her own stomach and decided to get up and join the rest of her crew for the coming meal.

Just as she was leaving she looked behind herself to have one last look at the sunset. As it finally set and she turned around, Robin couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

...

"_Where am I," _Raiku thought to himself as he looked around to find his surroundings. "_A torn up battleground, the sound of the wind roaring." _Now he remembered where he was. Raiku looked down to see the broken body of the girl next to him. Covered in blood, the black haired girl had a look of fear in her eyes as she looked at what was in front of them. The girl tried to move but couldn`t find the energy to do it. She quickly looked up at him and whispered the words that still haunted him to this day.

"_H-help."_

Of course he wanted to help the young girl, but he himself was also almost completely out of energy and was having a hard time moving. Raiku realized that there would be no way they could possibly escape from their enemy who was moving slowly, but surely towards them. He decided, as he decided to do then, to give up and accept his fate. As the large man approached him Raiku decided that his last words would be the name of the young girl next to him. As he prepared to say them, the large man brought his weapon down upon him.

"Robin!"

Raiku awoke on a rock overlooking the sea in a cold sweat. It had been a long time since he had dreamed about that horrible day. He figured it was because the "festival" was coming up soon. Raiku used the word festival loosely because that's what the villagers on Concho Island were forced to call it. 16 years ago Berezda's pirates came to the island and created the "festival" in order to force the villagers into free labour so they could make a profit. All the while, the government had chose to turn a blind eye, even though Concho Island was fairly close to one of the top three government facilities, the Enies Lobby. This was because of the popularity of the festival to travellers, who had no idea that the villagers were being exploited.

Despite everything they tried, the villagers on the island could never hope to stand up to someone like Berezda, who had a staggering bounty of 120,000,000 on his head. And so, for the past 16 years, the festival had continued.

Raiku cringed as he thought about this so he changed his thoughts to something else. He thought of the girl he once knew. The one with pitch black hair and piercing eyes. As he thought about these things, a wish came into his head. He was surprised by this as he thought he had given up on this wish a long time ago. As he looked out onto the setting sun he couldn't help but smile as he thought to himself.

"_I wish I could see her again." _


	2. Welcome to Paradise!

Chapter 2: Welcome to Paradise!

"Concho Island?"

"Yes Luffy, Concho Island. Because of your monster eating habits, we have to make a stop here to restock if we are going to make it to the next island. Plus, they have a huge festival this time of year that I've always wanted to go and see."

"Oh, okay. That sounds cool."

Luffy and Nami were sitting near the bow of ship while talking about the crew's next destination. Both were always the first two up in the morning, so their morning conversation was not an uncommon thing. Nami was always up first to make sure the weather was okay and Luffy was not far behind just in case anything interesting occurred.

While this was going on, Sanji, who had just woken up himself, was bringing out Nami her morning tangerine tea.

"Nami darling, I have brought you your precious morning tea. Perhaps you would reward my most noble efforts with a kiss?"

"Keep dreaming," Nami responded to this outrageous request.

"Ah well, although my affections have again gone ignored, I know that one day you see how utterly charm-"

"Hey Nami, when are we gonna get there," Luffy interrupted.

"LUFFY DON'T INTERUPT ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING TO NAMI!"

"So what, it's not like I was listening anyway," said Nami, leaving Sanji crushed. "To answer your question Luffy, we probably won't get there until this afternoon."

"WHAT!" Luffy shouted. "That's way too long to wait, I'm gonna be so bored."

"Just deal with it, with the shape the ship is in, there's no way we'll make it there faster," responded Nami.

With a defeated look on his face Luffy treaded off toward the Going Merry's head, which he had christened his special spot.

"There he goes again," said Sanji.

"It'll just be better when we get to the island."

...

Metsumo was in a good mood. With the festival coming up, the Berezda Pirates would be bringing in some serious cash. This would make the captain and in turn make him, the first mate, happy as well. "How's production coming along?" he asked.

"G-good sir," responded the timid villager. "With all of the able-bodied men working in the factories and all the woman and children in the fields, production is right on schedule."

"And the government?"

"Once again, they seem to be doing nothing to try to halt the festival," said the villager almost sounding disappointed. Metsumo just glared at him.

The frightened villager went on to describe how, because of growing tourist rates more people would be coming here and a lot of other meaningless stuff. Metsumo didn't care. All he cared about was that production was on schedule. If it wasn't, the captain wouldn't be happy. _"And that would not be a pretty scene," _Metsumo thought to himself.

After his tour of the facilities had ended, Metsumo was greeted outside by none other than Kotetsu. "_Oh great, not this guy," _he thought to himself as he walked towards him. Metsumo and Kotetsu had never liked each other from the start, but it just got worst recently after Metsumo had been promoted to First Mate over Kotetsu.

"Howdy," said Kotetsu with a smug look on his face.

"What do you want," responded Metsumo.

"Boss said you was taking too long, so he sent me to see if there were any problems." Kotetsu said that last word like it would be Metsumo's fault if there were any.

"Well there aren't!" Metsumo lashed back.

"Whoa, calm down there partner, just checking," laughed Kotetsu as he looked at Metsumo's face of realization that he had just been played. "But you know, if there were, boss wouldn't be too happy. He might even pull you down from First Mate."

Metsumo just shoved his way past him and kept going, pissed that his entire good mood had been ruined in five minutes.

...

Robin was nervous.

She had been nervous ever since she had heard the news of their destination and why they would be going there. "_Of all the places to stop, why Concho Island and why now."_ As she contemplated this, Robin noticed that the rest of the crew were giving her a weird stare. "_Although I appreciate their concern, I would prefer to keep this information to myself. At least for now." _She thought this to herself while on her outside she was creating an excuse that she was in deep thought about a book she was reading.

"You know Robin, you shouldn't concern yourself with such trivial manners, why of you're so interested in stories, I'll tell you about the time I took down one of the most feared pirates in all the East Blue "Saw Tooth" Arlong with nothing but my fists and my guts!" said Usopp proudly.

"Robin doesn't wanna hear your stupid lire stories Usopp," said Chopper who was still kind of mad that Usopp had lied to him the night before, but also concerned for Robin. Out of all of the crew, Chopper had grown closer to Robin than anyone else and could tell she was hiding something, but also knew she wasn't comfortable sharing.

Zoro, also concerned about Robin hiding something, got up to approach her, but sat down again when he realized that Robin had been with the crew long enough that he could trust her.

Throughout all of this, Sanji had been handing out lunches to the many different crew members and was just about to hand Luffy his when he noticed what he was looking at.

"Hey Guys!" Luffy shouted. "I can see the island!"

As the rest of the crew came to check it out, Sanji admired the beautiful, bustling island and saw that the preparations for this festival he had been hearing about were already underway.

"Wow," said Nami as she saw the island. "Hey, I wonder if they have any spas. Do you think so Robin?"

"Perhaps," she responded, while secretly she was thinking in her mind that she should really listen to her gut instincts, like the one she got last night, more often.


	3. A Strange Encounter

Chapter 3: A Strange Encounter

"Okay everyone," said Nami to the rest of the crew. "We're going to split up here so remember to meet back at the ship around sunset, okay?"

"Alright," everyone responded.

After arriving on the island of Concho, the crew decided they were going to split up into groups in order to handle jobs accordingly. Sanji and Chopper were going to go and get food so that they could restock the ship. Nami and Robin were going to check out the tourist destinations on the island. Finally, Usopp was given the job to watch over Luffy and Zoro so as to make sure they didn't cause any problems or get lost.

"What! But why me?" Usopp pouted as he was dragged off by Zoro and Luffy who decided they were going to go exploring.

"And remember, if any of you spend all of your allowance and come running to me for more money, I'm gonna charge you 300% interest," Nami shouted at her crewmates. "And yes Zoro that will be added to the 200,000 berries you owe me already!"

_"Damn women," _Zoro thought to himself. "_She still remembers that!?"_

…

As she and Nami continued to walk down the road, passing by all the beautiful shops along the way, Robin's depressing attitude continued to increase.

"Come on Robin what's wrong?" Nami said concernedly. Robin usually organized her emotions very carefully, so the fact that she was conveying them so clearly had Nami a little worried.

"Nothing's wrong Miss Navigator, really," said Robin her face going from worried to her usual calm and composed self in a second. "I was just… thinking."

As they continued to walk, Robin came across an old bookstore and decided to enter. "I'll just be a minute in here," Robin assured Nami.

She proceeded to head to the bookshelf at the very back of the store and started skimming the titles located there. She kept doing so until she came to a title that intrigued her. "The History of Concho Island," she whispered to herself. "_Funny, I don't ever remember this book being here the last time I was on the island." _

Deciding to purchase the book, Robin went up to the counter and proceeded to pay the storeowner, being careful to cover her face in case he recognized her. After joining Nami outside, and doing a bit more shopping, the two sat down in order to have some dinner. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, Robin ignored Nami who was rambling on about how high in price the things she bought today were and such, and opened her new book.

_The first record of civilization on Concho Island was some 700 years ago. The newly established World Government came to the island and established order among the natives that were already living there at the time. _While reading through the book, Robin came across this section which intrigued her, cursing herself, Robin thought that, if the island was not such a dangerous place for her to go to, she might have gone exploring the island on this note in search of clues regarding the Void Century and the origins of the World Government.

After reading some more mildly interesting topics from the opening chapters of the book, Robin and Nami's dinner had arrived and she placed the book down promising to continue it later.

…

As Metsumo continued on his way to the ship, he had decided to stop by the Weapons Shop to check out their merchandise. He didn't expect to find anything useful of course, but then again, he had found some of his most useful weapons in small shops located in towns he had travelled to.

Entering the shop, Metsumo was met with a small "Eeep!" from the storeowner and some other people in the store, who quickly fled after seeing him enter. After spending some time looking at the weapons and realizing none of them were of any use to him personally, Metsumo bought some of the better equipment in the store for the lower grunts in the Berezda Pirate crew and continued on his way.

As he was continuing on his way, Metsumo noticed a commotion going on at one of the shops. Apparently, from what he could tell, was being caused by 3 men. One was wearing a red button up shirt, blue shorts and a straw hat. Another one with green hair was wearing a simple white t-shirt and a pair of black pants. He also carried three swords on him. The final one was a skinny man with bushy hair and a long nose. He was wearing a bandanna and a pair of brown overalls.

"Come on, I told you I'm really sorry we can't pay you now, but don't worry we'll be back soon with some more money," the one with the straw hat said.

"YEAH RIGHT!" was the angry storeowner's response.

"You know Luffy, if you hadn't eaten so much food, we might not be in this situation," long nose said.

"Hey it wasn't my fault that I was hungry, and don't put all the blame on me, Zoro ate a whole lot too!"

"NOT NEARLY AS MUCH AS YOU, IDIOT," said the green haired one, whose name was evidently Zoro.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but what is all the commotion going on here."

Metsumo had enough of watching on the sidelines and decided to step in.

"I'll tell you what," said the storekeeper who immediately recognized Metsumo. "These brats ate all of the damn food in my restaurant and now say they don't have enough money to pay me. If I don't get their money I won't make enough to keep on Berezda's schedule."

Metsumo turned to the 3 men on his right and said "Gentlemen, is this true?"

"Hey, I don't see what you have to do with it so just screw off!" the one in the straw hat said.

"Answer my question boy," Metsumo responded.

"I said it's none of your business so just screw off!" the boy yelled back.

"YOU DARE DEFY THE ORDERS OF THE FIRST MATE OF THE BEREZDA PIRATES!" said Metsumo who, after already been agitated enough by his encounter with Kotetsu earlier that morning, was angry enough that he decided he had had enough of this brat and brought down his fist upon him.

Metsumo was surprised to see his fist blocked by one of the three swords of the green haired man.

"You better back off," said the green haired man angrily.

Getting a better look at the two now, Metsumo realized that he recognized the green haired man and the boy with the straw hat, but couldn't put names to their faces.

Metsumo jumped back after deciding it was better to back off. "You'll regret messing with the Berezda Pirates," said Metsumo. "Mark my words strawhat, this won't be the last you see of me." He said as he walked off. He wouldn't remember the names of the two men until he returned to the ship.

...

Raiku decided to head into town for dinner tonight. After having spent the day helping his parents set up for the festival, he decided that he would have a meal out before going into hiding for the week. Normally, he would participate in the festival too, but, after hearing that Berezda had come personally this year to oversee the project, he decided it would be better to go into hiding than to be recognized. After all, if Berezda knew that he was still alive, Raiku was sure that he would hunt him down so he could finish him off before Raiku could reveal his secret.

As he headed off toward his favourite cafe, Raiku found himself again thinking of the black haired girl known as Robin. He remembered when he first met her. He was still a teenager back then and still naive. When he had first laid eyes on her, Raiku knew he liked her. He shared many adventures with her and found, for the first time since he was a child, he was having fun.

Things were different now. She was gone. What reason would she have to stay? After all, she thought he was dead and he was pretty sure already she was planning on leaving the island soon anyway. As he left the comfort of his memories, Raiku made his way to the cafe where he stopped dead in his tracks. Were his eyes deceiving him now too? But there was no mistake, sitting there, staring at him with a face just as shocked as his own, was Robin.


	4. Reacquainted

Chapter 4: Reacquainted

"How? How is it that you are still alive?"

Raiku had just settled in and sat down with Robin and the red-headed girl who had introduced herself as Nami. After recovering from the shock of seeing each other, Raiku had come into the cafe and told Robin that it was indeed him.

"It's a long story. The real question is, what are you doing back here? Especially at this time of year!"

"Uh, Robin, who is this guy and what, is he talking about?" Interrupted Nami, who had no idea what was going on.

"Excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is Raiku. Robin and I, we knew each other a long time ago." Raiku said. "Anyway, please answer my question. Why are you here?"

Robin responded this time. "M-my crew, I never told them about this place. I never told them about what happened here."

"And yet you thought it was a good idea to come back!"

"Robin, what is he talking about, what happened to you here?"

"I just thought that if I kept my head low and avoided conversation no one would notice me." Robin said worryingly.

"You don't understand Robin, it's different this time. He's here for this year's festival. Berezda is here." Raiku said in a panic.

"What, Berezda!" Nami whispered with a shocked look on her face. Even she had heard of the infamous pirate Berezda back when she was a member of Arlong's crew. Realizing the seriousness of the situation and noticing that they were making a scene, Nami decided it was time to head back to the ship.

"Okay, I'm still not quite sure what we're talking about here, but I think it would be better if we took this back to our ship to discuss in private. Don't you agree Robin?"

"Yes I think that would be best," said Robin, who was still in shock after hearing that Berezda was on the island.

"Come on, I'll show you where we are docked." Nami said as she gestured for Raiku to follow her.

...

"And you're sure it's them."

"Yes Captain, after reviewing their wanted posters again, I can confirm that the two infamous rookie pirates "Strawhat" Monkey D. Luffy, and "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro are located on the island at this time."

"Hmm, very interesting."

After remembering the names of the two men he had encountered at the restaurant earlier, Metsumo had immediately gone to his Captain, Berezda with the news.

"So, this "Luffy" thinks he can just come to my island and start to cause a ruckus with my crew because he just entered the big leagues, hahahaha!" Laughed Berezda as he looked at Luffy's photograph in his wanted poster. "Oh yes, I know very well what you have done Monkey D. Luffy, single-handedly beating Crocodile of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, very good. But do not think just because you beat him, means that someone like you, could ever beat someone like me. Hahahahahahaha!"

"There is something else to Captain." Metsumo continued. "If our Intel is correct, the "Demon Child" Nico Robin, should currently be among his crewmates, and thus presumably, on the island as well."

"What! Robin, here, I want her head!" Berezda Roared. "Metsumo, Kotetsu, do whatever you must to capture that girl, alive if possible, so I can kill her myself!"

"Yes Sir!" Metsumo said.

"As always, Captain," chimed in Kotetsu before both of them went off.

...

It wasn't long after Nami, Robin, and Raiku arrived on the Going Merry, that the rest of the crew joined them. The first question all of them had of course was, who was the man the Nami and Robin had brought back to the boat. After explaining the situation, the crew sat down in the main cabin while Sanji went to go make some drinks. It was after Sanji returned with the drinks and sat down himself, that Raiku began to speak.

"As all of you know, I used to be a friend of Robin, for those of you who don't know, my name is Raiku, I have lived on this island my entire life and have been subjugated to the horrible fate that has befallen us every year for the past 16 years."

"Wait what do you mean by horrible fate exactly?" Said Chopper.

"16 years ago, a pirate crew known as the Berezda Pirates came across Concho Island and secretly took over it." This comment came from Robin who felt that she also needed to add to the story what she could to make up for not telling the crew earlier.

"That's correct, ever since that time, the villagers on this island have been subjugated to horrible things under Berezda's rule. You are all familiar with the festival that is held every year on this island, correct."

"Yes, of course. I've always dreamed of going to it since I was a little girl and heard stories of it from sailors who came to visit my island," said Nami.

"The festival is a ruse set up by Berezda in order to make money to fund a secret project he is working on. All the money earned from the festival is given to Berezda to fund this project. Even though the government knows that the festival is a ploy by Berezda, even they are not aware of this project."

"Wait if the government knows he's doing this, why don't they step in and stop him?" Said Usopp.

"They planned to at first, but the growing popularity of the festival in recent years has caused them to back off."

"That's Horrible!" Yelled Nami.

"Whatever keeps the nobles happy, the government will support, good or bad."

"Just what is this project Berezda is working on anyway?" Said Sanji.

"It's a weapon of mass destruction, once it's finished, Berezda plans to use it to bring neighboring countries to their knees."

"Wait a second. If this project is so secret, how is it that you know about it?" Asked Zoro.

"That is a good question, well?" Added Usopp.

"He knows about it, because I told him," said Robin.

"WHAT," all members of the crew said at once.

"I think it would be better if you just heard our story," said Raiku. "Now, let's start at the beginning, when Robin and I, first met."


	5. The Lost Pocket Watch

Chapter 5: The Lost Pocket Watch

_16 years ago_

"Where is it?" Raiku mumbled to himself as he searched the ground. "I know I left it around here somewhere."

What he was looking for, was a pocket watch. His father's pocket watch to be exact. It had been lent to him the night before when he had gone out with some friends for the night, and when he tried to give it back to his dad in the morning, and found it wasn't there, well let's just say Raiku hadn't seen his dad that mad in a long time.

Just as he had given up hope of ever finding it he noticed a glint in the green grass.

"Aha!" he said as he went to reach for it just as it was picked up by another. Raiku looked up to see a group of people led by a man in the front who had his pocket watch.

"Hey, that's mine give it back!" Raiku yelled as he tried to grab for the watch.

"Is it now," said the man who moved backwards. "Well, its mighty pretty and all, but let's hand it over to the resident expert to see how much it's worth. Hey Robin, catch!" the man said as he tossed the watch over his back.

"... worthless. It may look old but the model is relatively new. Any expert would be able to tell right away, but you might be able to sell it to a passerby for a decent price," said an emotionless voice. Raiku looked up and was surprised to see that the voice belonged to a young and pretty girl with black hair resting on her shoulders. Raiku blushed.

"If that's the case we'll take it then. Boys, see if you can find a sucker in town who'll buy this piece of junk."

"Hey, it's not a piece of junk!" yelled Raiku. "That watch is very important to me so give it back NOW!"

"Just give it back Kotetsu, if the watch isn't worth much there's no point in keeping it," said a tall dark man in the back.

"Shut up Metsumo!" Kotetsu shouted back. "We just joined Berezda's pirate crew, and the best way to earn a name for ourselves is to bring in money, even if it's just a bit."

"W-wait did you just say B-berezda," said Raiku who looked on in fear. He had heard of Berezda, the infamous new rookie who was making a name for himself on the Grand Line. He had recently had a bounty of 50,000,000 berries on his head, if Raiku recalled correctly.

"Yeah, that's right," the man said menacingly. "Kotetsu's the name partner, how bout you?"

"R-raiku,"

"Well, Raiku, I figure by the sound of your voice that you've heard of Berezda round these parts, and that means you know exactly what you're getting into. Now if you don't mind, I think we'll be on our way."

"W-wait," Raiku stammered. "Even if you are apart of Berezda's crew, I have to get that pocket watch back!"

"Well, looks like you got balls," Kotetsu turned around and said. "Tell you what, how bout you come on here and try and take it from me."

Raiku had had enough of this guy. It didn't matter if he was apart of Berezda's crew, this guy was intentionally pissing him off and Raiku decided to shut him up. Now, Raiku wasn't someone to take lightly. In all of the fighting competitions he had entered, he had never once lost, not even to grown men. Even though Raiku could tell this guy was tough from the look of him, he was prepared for almost anything.

One of the things he wasn't prepared for, was the spinning.

As Raiku charged Kotetsu he suddenly found himself spinning uncontrollably. Raiku tried to regain his footing, but realized he wasn't spinning of his own free will and trying to fight it would be futile. After about a minute, the spinning stopped and Raiku started to try and move around, dizzy and nauseous. It was then that the punch hit him.

It felt like a brick wall had hit him in the stomach. Raiku looked down to see the tall dark man.

"You should have just walked away boy," he said.

Raiku fell on his knees and hugged his stomach violently as he started to puke a mixture of vomit and blood uncontrollably. He was in shock as he had never felt this much pain before in his life. Metsumo then stood up and brought back his fist.

"Night, night sweetie pie," Kotetsu laughed as the punch with the force of a brick wall hit him in the head. The last thing he saw before he blacked out were the emotionless, yet somehow beautiful eyes of the black haired girl.

...

"It looks like you're awake, good."

Raiku opened his eyes to see the girl with the black hair sitting above him.

"You were out for about a week so I thought you were dead," she said. "If I hadn't come in here now to start cleaning up, hmmm, I wonder what would have happened."

Raiku attempted to sit up, but that's when the pain hit him. His head was beating with a sharp pain and his body felt like every bone was broken.

"Sorry, I ran out of painkillers a few days ago, and since I thought you were dead, I didn't go to get anymore."

"You, took care of me?" asked Raiku.

"Yes," the girl responded.

"Why?"

"I know what it's like to lose something that's important to you and not be able to take it back," she said quietly. "By the way, here, I managed to swipe it off of them on the way to the village." She put the pocket watch on the nightstand next to him.

"Thank you. By the way, what's your name?"

"Robin, Nico Robin," the girl said hesitantly.

"NICO ROBIN!" Raiku yelled but immediately screamed afterwards as his head throbbed in response to his yelling. "You mean the one they call the "Demon Child" Nico Robin?"

"Please don't call me that. The reason I got those words and their meanings about me are both untrue."

"Really? Then what actually happened?"

She stayed silent for a moment. "I'm not comfortable talking about it."

Sensing the seriousness of her mood, Raiku decided to back off the topic.

"If what you say is the truth, than why are you with Berezda's crew."

"Nobody but pirates accept me, and I'm too young to live on my own, so I do what I have to so that I can survive."

"I see," said Raiku quietly.

"I ran into Berezda awhile ago and he promised to shelter me if I used my abilities to help him."

"And just what abilities are those?"

"I'm afraid that I'm not at liberty to say."

"One more question."

"What's that?"

"Will you be my friend?" Raiku said with a big smile on his face.

Robin looked at him surprisingly, "I've never had a friend before, why do you want to be my friend?"

"Because you're really cute but really lonely, which is sad because you're really nice. Because you've never had a friend before, and you look like you could use one."

"Friends huh," Robin said while looking out the window at the sea. She looked like she was remembering something from her past. She then turned around and smiled at him. "Yeah, yeah sure."

"Good," Raiku said while smiling back.


	6. The Black Day

Chapter 6: The Black Day

"What should we do today Raiku?"

"I don't know, we've pretty much explored the entire island." Raiku responded.

"We could go into town and I can use my Flower Flower fruit powers to get some money," suggested Robin.

"No, it's too risky, someone could recognize you."

It had been about 2 months since Raiku had met Robin that day. The two had been surprisingly good friends ever since. Although she was very introverted at first, Raiku had eventually gotten Robin to open out a bit and experience the world. She had even told him about her devil fruit power, but anything else he asked about her past was instantly rebuffed. Over the last two months they had explored almost the entire island together.

"Hey I know," Raiku said. "How about we go and explore the northwest caves on the island?"

"NO!" Robin snapped. "I mean, Berezda is doing something on that part of the island and I don't want you to get hurt but Metsumo or Kotetsu again.

Raiku rubbed his stomach. He still hadn't fully recovered from the wounds of that battle. He was still angry that he had lost that easily too. He had wanted to go and get revenge before, but Robin had stopped him.

"Okay, what do you think we should do today?"

"Hmmm, maybe we can go explore the North Mountain, we always find something new when we go there," said Robin with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Okay then!" responded Raiku, as the two got up to go on their way.

...

"Okay then see you later!" shouted Raiku in the distance.

After spending the day travelling the mountain, Raiku and Robin decided it was time to go home and went their separate ways on the crossroads.

"See you tomorrow!" Robin shouted back.

She waited for a bit until she was sure Raiku was out of sight and then started heading west towards the caves. Berezda had found the caves when they had first arrived on the island and decided they were a good place to hide and start their project. She was arriving at the entrance when she noticed Kotetsu coming out.

"Hey there kid, how did your day with the weakling go?"

"Good, and he's not a weakling," Robin responded.

Kotetsu had known along that Robin had been hanging around with Raiku when he noticed the two of them travelling together one day.

"Wow, defending him now too, almost sounds like you like him hmmmm, does the great "Demon Child" have feelings like that too?"

Robin turned away blushing. Although she didn't know if it was that kind of love, Robin knew that she did care alot about Raiku. After all he had been her first real friend since Saul.

"And he is a weakling Robin. We both know that boy couldn't ever hope to harm monsters like you or I am I right?" Kotetsu said.

"What does it matter? Anyway, what are you doing travelling to town so late?"

"The boss has me running a few errands for him that's all. I'll be back in a jiffy, thanks for your concern," said Kotetsu to Robin who was already walking away.

After arriving at the cave Robin had taken some time to grab something to eat before heading off to see Berezda who had called for her. As she arrived to his door, she noticed there was another man in the room talking to Berezda.

"Are you sure it's time?" said the man Robin identified as First Mate Barton.

"Of course, the men are done digging the tunnels where we will hide the project. Now all we need is the money to fund it," said Berezda.

"How long do you think it's going to take us to get the money?"

"Oh if everything goes according to according to schedule, about 18 years or so, but if we milk the villagers and make them work harder we might be able to get it done faster, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," laughed Berezda.

"Shouldn't we be worried about the marines, I mean we are pretty close to "that place"."

"The Enies Lobby, hah, give me a break. Anyway the reason we are only doing this once a year is so that the government finds out they won't try to stop us. For the rest of the year I'll go sailing so they'll be after me then. As long as they don't catch on about the project we're fine."

"But do you expect the villagers to just comply?"

"Barton, this is why we'll have leverage. I've sent that new strong recruit Kotetsu to go and capture all the boys and young men and bring them here. As soon as the villagers figure this out I'm sure they'll be happy to comply."

Robin was shocked. She didn't know how to react to the situation, but she did know one thing, she had to protect Raiku. She rushed off toward the prison cells before she even knew what she was doing.

...

Raiku was trying to struggle out of his chains. He didn't know what was going on. All he knew is that he woke up being carried away in a prison wagon being tied and gagged. Once they had arrived at the caves to the west, he was placed in a cell, alone, and there he was now.

As he continued to struggle, he heard a voice call to him.

"Raiku?"

"Robin I'm in here," he replied.

After cleverly using her Flower Flower fruit powers to get him out, Raiku and Robin were running down a hall.

"Robin what is going on?!"

"No time to explain but listen, you've gotta warn the villagers. Berezda, he's planning on forcing everyone on the island into forced labour to build him a weapon."

"What, a weapon?"

"Yes, he calls it, the Blitzkrieg Barrage. Apparently it's going to have the power to destroy an entire island."

"That's horrible! I'll go and warn them right away."

"Good, I'll try and free more prisoners, then we'll get off this island and warn the government!"

"You'll do what now Robin!" said an agitated voice from behind them.

Raiku turned around to see what had to be, the biggest and scariest man he had ever seen.

"B-berezda," Robin said shocked beyond belief.

"After all I've done for you, and you still betray me. I guess all those rumors about you are true. Oh well, not like it matters anymore," said Berezda cracking a huge smile. "Because you and your little friend are going to die here."

"Robin, run," was all Raiku could say before Berezda was upon him and had punched him in the gut. Not even the tall dark man named Metsumo's punch had hurt this much. It was then he felt something sharp and long pierce his skin. "_Wait, he wasn't carrying any knives on him was he?" _was all he could think when he went flying out of the building.

He tried to stand on the sand of the beach, but found it almost impossible. Berezda had hit him right in his wound which he had not recovered from yet. After barley managing a stand he noticed that Robin, beaten and bloody was getting up too.

"Hmm you two are tough, but I'll finish you off now."

"Deus Fleur!" shouted Robin as two hands sprouted from Berezda and proceeded, much to Raiku's horror, to snap Berezda's neck.

As Berezda's body just stood there for a second, Raiku looked over to Robin and yelled, "Is it over?"

"Hah as if!" This came from Berezda.

Raiku looked over shocked and saw as Berezda reached his hands up, and snapped his neck back into place.

"Your attacks won't work on me girl!"

"What the hell are you?" shouted Raiku.

"I ate the Spike Spike fruit, and now, I can control all of my body's bones and others people's bones, at will, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

As Berezda approached they both turned to try and run but they couldn't.

"Face me you cowards, I'm holding your bones in place so you don't run."

"Robin listen, it looks like we gotta fight him," said Raiku

"But we'll never win!"

"Maybe not, but we have to try."

Robin looked at him. "Okay."

"That's the spirit. I'll even let you have a chance, here, Bone Release."

As their bones began to respond again both of them charged Berezda.

...

They had lost. Berezda was a monster and neither of them had a chance.

As Raiku realized this Berezda was already moving in for the final blow. He noticed that the wind was roaring across the sea making huge waves bang against the coast. Just as he got up, he looked over to his right and saw Robin there looking at him with pleading eyes.

"H-help."

Of course he wanted to help her, but he could barley help himself. As he stood still, accepting his fate, Raiku decided that his last words would be the name of the young girl next to him. As Berezda came closer he said them.

"ROBIN!"

That's when Berezda's weapon fell upon him.


	7. Confrontation

Chapter 7: Confrontation

After Raiku finished the story, the room went silent as everyone was taking in what was just told to them. The only sound that could be heard was that of Luffy eating the food Sanji had made for him earlier. After about 5 minutes, Chopper broke the silence.

"Well, what happened next? You can't just end the story there."

"Truth be told, the rest is all pretty much a blur," replied Raiku. "I woke up in a bed a week later and had to stay there for about a month afterwards. After I got out, I went to search for Robin everywhere, but found that she was no longer on the island."

"What happened to you then Robin?" asked Nami.

"Berezda was too busy with Raiku to notice me and I took that opportunity to escape. I made my way back to the village undetected somehow, but instead of warning the villagers, I, I took a boat and ran."

Raiku remained quiet with a sullen look on his face. After hearing that, he had lost some of the respect he once had for Robin.

"I never thought Raiku actually survived and, well, without him there I had no reason to stay on the island," she continued. "About two weeks later, I saw a newspaper that was advertising the festival. I thought about going back, but I, I was too scared," she said in a quiet voice.

"Why didn't the people of the island try and fight back?" said Zoro. "This island has alot of people; even if you hadn't beaten him, you would have at least gotten the government's attention."

"At first, some people thought like that too," said Raiku. "A group of highly trained men went to try and fight Berezda. None of them returned. Afterwards, Berezda came to the island with one of the men's head and showed it off in a public display saying that the same fate would happen to everyone on the island if they didn't co-operate."

"Just how strong is this Berezda guy?!" asked Usopp.

"Incredibly so. "Bone Crusher" Berezda, his current bounty right now is 120,000,000 berries," said Robin.

"120,000,000! That's insane! It's 40,000,000 berries higher than Crocodile's bounty!" said Nami who was shocked.

"It's even higher than Luffy's bounty is right now," said Sanji.

"That's not all," said Raiku. "He also has 2 other crew members with insane bounties on their heads. "Brick Wall" Metsumo, who has a bounty of 95,000,000 berries, and "Spinner" Kotetsu, who has a bounty of 75,000,000 berries."

"WHAT!"

"They sound like they're all really strong!" said Luffy excitedly.

"Oh no Luffy!" shouted Usopp. "We are not getting involved in this; you were barely able to beat someone like Crocodile. How do you think you think you can beat this guy?"

"Geez Usopp give it a break already," said Sanji. "Besides, these lowlifes hurt my dear precious Robin, so they are going to have to pay."

_BOOM!_

"What the hell was that!" shouted Zoro.

"It sounded like it came from the front of the ship," said a rattled Chopper.

"Come on let's go check it out," said Nami. The crew, with Raiku in tow, ran towards the front of the ship.

...

Metsumo had been searching for the ship for hours and had gotten nowhere. He had checked all of the major ports and the best hiding spots for a pirate ship. "_How can it be so hard to find one ship?" _he thought to himself. "_Seriously this is taking forever!"_

He would even be angrier if, somehow Kotetsu found it first. After all, Metsumo had a score to settle with the Strawhat and Roronoa Zoro for earlier. As he continued to search for the ship, Metsumo had many things on his mind. "_These two have pretty big bounties," _he thought to himself. "_Strawhat's bounty is even bigger than my own. If I'm not careful, this could be bad."_

Just as he was thinking this, Metsumo noticed an odd ship docked on a normally unseeable alcove. After closely inspecting the ship from a distance and seeing the huge Jolly Roger with a straw hat on it, Metsumo concluded that this was the ship he was looking for.

"Took you long enough."

Metsumo looked behind himself and noticed Kotetsu leaning against a rock there.

"I've been here for about 2 hours."

"I'm surprised you didn't go in by yourself," said Metsumo.

"Nah, I can tell you got a bone to pick with some of them, and even from you, that's something I can respect."

"Okay then, let's move out. Remember, our main objective is to capture Nico Robin, alive if possible."

"What about the other ones?" asked Kotetsu.

"Monkey D. Luffy has a bounty of 100,000,000 so he should be our biggest concern. Also, Roronoa Zoro has a sizable bounty of 60,000,000 himself so don't underestimate him, and then of course there is Nico Robin, who has a bounty of 79,000,000 and-"

"Yeah, yeah I got it. Be careful and watch your back and all that, anyway, will you just shut up so we can get the job done."

"Fine. First, we'll cripple their ship to make sure they aren't going anywhere."

"Okay then."

The two men then proceeded to jump on board and started to destroy the ship.

...

The Strawhats and Raiku made their way to the front of the ship where they noticed two men were breaking off pieces of sides and tearing up the floorboards.

"Hey!" Luffy yelled. "What the hell are you doing to our ship?"

"Yeah, the Going Merry, is our ally!" said Usopp. "If you think you can get away with hurting her, you're dead wrong!"

"I told you we would meet again Strawhat," said the tall dark one.

"Hey, you're that guy from earlier at the restaurant, listen I know we couldn't pay you guys then but that doesn't give you the right to come here and bust up our ship!" said Luffy.

"Idiot," he responded. "Do you really think that is what this is about?" he said while looking over to Robin, who was behind Luffy.

"Metsumo," she said with a shocked look on her face.

"It's been a long time," he responded.

"And looky here," said the other one who was average height with blonde hair, as he walked over to Raiku. "I don't know how you survived his attack brat, but I think the boss is going to be very interested that you're still alive."

"Kotetsu," said Raiku gritting his teeth.

"Enough with the chit-chat," said Metsumo. "Strawhat, hand over Nico Robin and nobody has to get hurt."

"Like hell we'll give Robin to you!" yelled Raiku.

"Shut up weakling," said Kotetsu who pushed Raiku backwards.

"Well?" Metsumo continued.

"Listen," said Luffy. "I don't really know what happened between you guys and Robin a long time ago, but if you think I'm just going to hand over one of my friends like that, you've got another thing coming!"

Luffy started to stretch his arm backwards. "Gum Gum-"

Suddenly, Luffy found himself spinning out of control. Unable to complete his attack Luffy tried to pull his arm back. Suddenly, Metsumo rushed across the deck and punched Luffy right in the stomach. This punch, along with the force of the spinning, sent Luffy flying into the ocean.

"Crap!" yelled Usopp who went in after Luffy.

"Well," said Kotetsu. "That wasn't so hard, Metsumo, I thought you said he was going to be the biggest problem."

"He was supposed to be," said Metsumo who had a look of disbelief on his face.

"Hah, this is gonna be too easy," laughed Kotetsu.

"Don't be so sure," said Zoro who was pulling out his swords.

"Now you've really pissed us off!" said an agitated Sanji who pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it.

As Raiku and the rest of the crew backed up, Zoro and Sanji both moved closer to Metsumo and Kotetsu, and the 4 began to fight.


	8. The Strawhats Fight Back

Chapter 8: The Strawhats Fight Back

Metsumo got into a ready stance. As Zoro brought out his swords, Metsumo suddenly jumped into the air and landed behind him. He shot up a kick at the shocked Zoro. Although he was able to block it, the force of the kick sent Zoro off of the ship and onto the docks. Metsumo jumped down off of the ship to face him again.

"You're good," said Metsumo.

"You're not half bad yourself," replied Zoro.

As the two continued to trade blows, another fight was happening on the deck of the ship.

Sanji was trying his best to get close to Kotetsu, but just as he reached him, he started to spin out of control.

"You can't be me kid, I ate the Spin Spin fruit, and now, I can make anybody spin around as fast as I want them to."

"If that's the case I'll just use your spinning to my advantage!"

Sanji jumped up in the air mid spin and proceeded to come down slamming his foot into the deck. He then used the momentum to kick flip and spin himself right back at his opponent and come down on him with a hard kick to his neck.

"Collier Shoot!"

He was surprised to see the kick blocked by Kotetsu's arm.

"You're strong kid, I'll give you that, but you better be doing something better than that if ya wanna beat me."

Sanji dropped down on one hand and shot a hard kick at Kotetsu's ribs.

"Côtellete!"

This kick managed to make a direct hit sending Kotetsu flying backwards.

"_Crap!"_ he thought to himself. "_Looks like this ain't gonna be as easy as I thought." _ Kotetsu then used his hand to grab his hat and throw it in a vertical motion directly at his opponent. He then shot out his hand and began twirling it extremely fast.

"One Way Hat Trick!" he shouted as the hat suddenly started spinning extremely fast towards Sanji.

Sanji was barely able to maneuver out of the way and the hat caught him on the side of his face. As the hat returned Kotetsu and Sanji recovered, the two men stopped to regain their composure for a second before continuing fighting.

...

Usopp was looking everywhere for Luffy but just couldn't seem to find him. As he continued to look he thought to himself.

"_Man these guys are just way too strong! There's no way we can beat them. I mean, it was bad enough with that Marine Admiral. Am I, or I mean, are we really ready for what's coming next? Even people as strong as Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are getting their asses handed to them out here! I knew coming to the Grand Line was a bad idea. At this rate we'll all be dead before we finish the first half!"_

As he continued to think he noticed a large group of fish swimming by and they were carrying something.

"_No," _he thought to himself. "_It can't be."_

As he swam closer to the fish Usopp saw that his suspicions were correct. The thing the fish were carrying was none other than Luffy. As he tried to get closer to the fish, some of them started to charge him.

Noticing their abnormally large teeth, Usopp swam away for his life. As he continued to swim he remembered something.

_"That's right; I still have Nami's Clima Tact with me. If I just go to the surface and try that new attack I've been working on, I can take care of those fish."_

Usopp rose to the surface and climbed onto the side of the boat before pulling out the Clima Tact and trying out the new attack. Summoning some cool and hot balls into the air to form a cloud, Usopp suddenly starting shooting out a bunch of thunder balls straight into the cloud and unleashed the attack on the water.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!"

A huge lightning bolt suddenly fell from the cloud and electrified the ocean. As Usopp expected, suddenly all of the fish bodies suddenly rose to the surface. Waiting until it was safe to dive again; Usopp jumped into the ocean from the side of the ship, grabbed Luffy and headed for the surface.

...

Metsumo was getting annoyed. Neither Zoro nor his attacks were getting anywhere. The two continued to trade blow after blow as the fight continued. Zoro pushed his body off of a wall and crossed two of his swords against his chest.

"Oni Giri!"

However, Metsumo, expecting this, simply put up his hand and blocked. Zoro's swords got caught on the substance that was growing on his arm.

"I thought I already told you Roronoa Zoro, you can't beat me. I ate the Brick Brick Fruit, and now, I can summon organic brick all over my body that is harder than steel to protect it. You couldn't ever hope to cut me."

As he said this, Metsumo grabbed Zoro's body and then coated his fist in brick.

"You know what another added bonus is, this brick coating also makes for a good attacking strategy!" he said as he punched Zoro as hard as he could, sending him flying. Before he could crash on the docks Zoro pulled out one of his swords.

"There are 36 worldly desires, 36 Pound Phoenix!" He shouted as he performed a circular swing sending a slash of high speed air at his target.

Attempting to block this, Metsumo put up his arm and coated it with brick again, however he did not expect for the slash to twirl around his arm and go straight for his face. Having no time to cover his face with brick, Metsumo was forced to jump up into the air.

Zoro put a smile on his face as he was expecting this and flipped two of his swords around and started spinning.

"Dragon Twister!" he shouted as a dragon like tornado suddenly started slashing at Metsumo and sending him through the air and onto the deck of the ship.

As he was flying, Metsumo thought to himself. "_Incredible. This Roronoa Zoro is much better than I thought; this might actually turn into an interesting bout."_

Metsumo recovered and went to stand by Kotetsu who was facing down Sanji, it seemed as though he too was having a hard time dealing with his opponent.

As Zoro went up and joined Sanji, the two pairs faced each other off.

"I can't believe it's taking you this long you stupid marimo, if you're this slow don't get in my way I'll handle these two myself," said Sanji who was huffing and puffing.

"Shut up you damn cook, at least I'm getting somewhere in my fight!"

As the two continued to fight, Metsumo and Kotetsu were arguing themselves.

"Are you really having so much trouble with someone who isn't even good enough to get a bounty Kotetsu?" Metsumo said tauntingly.

"Hah, as if you should talk, breathing so hard and having so many cut wounds from only someone with a 60,000,000 berry bounty."

Just then, the boat tipped to its side and all 4 of them looked over to see a hand grabbing the side of the ship before blasting into the air. Luffy, soaking wet looked at Metsumo and Kotetsu with murderous eyes.

"That wasn't very nice," he said with teeth clenched.

"Well, look who came back from his swim. Tell me kid how was your swim? Hahahaha!" laughed Kotetsu.

Metsumo pushed him aside and moved towards Luffy. "I told you once and I'll tell you again Strawhat, we're taking Nico Robin."

"LIKE HELL!" shouted Luffy as he charged Metsumo.

Luffy pulled back his hand and sent it flying forward again.

"Gum Gum Pistol!" he shouted as his fist stretched at a high speed towards Metsumo. Metsumo leaped into the air to dodge it; however Luffy thought he would do this and quickly brought his arm back and jumped into the air himself stretching his leg up vertically.

"Gum Gum Battle Axe!" he shouted as he brought down leg at a high speed.

Metsumo crossed his arms above him and coated them with his hardest brick.

"Brick Wall Immense!" he shouted as Luffy's foot hit him.

He went slamming down onto the deck of the ship, breaking it and sending him down to the hull. As Luffy brought his foot back it looked as though Metsumo had successfully defended against the attack, but then the brick covering his arms cracked and blood dripped out.

"_What!" _Metsumo thought to himself. "_Impossible, the only one who has ever broken my defence is Berezda!" _

Metsumo jumped out of the hull and back onto the dock of the ship and landed beside a shocked Kotetsu.

"Did that kid seriously just break through you're defence?" Kotetsu said.

"Yes, it appears so. He's going to be a bigger problem than we thought, they all are. Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and this other one; they are much more dangerous than the government makes them out to be. It would be best to retreat to revaluate our strategy."

"But we just can't leave with nothing!" said Kotetsu. "Captain'll have our heads if we do."

"Hmm..."

Just then, the remaining members of crew and Raiku came out of their hiding spot near the back of the ship.

"Ok," Metsumo said. "Here's the plan." He continued as he whispered into Kotetsu's ear.

After they were finished talking the two suddenly stood still for about a minute before acting. All of a sudden everybody on the ship found themselves spinning uncontrollably.

"Crap!" yelled Sanji.

Metsumo suddenly sprinted across the deck and quickly grabbed Robin before disappearing into the night with Kotetsu.

By the time Raiku and the crew regained composure, they were already gone.


	9. Counterattack

Chapter 9: Counterattack

"What do you mean we aren't going after them right now!" yelled Luffy. "They took Robin and they are going to kill her."

"I know that. I'm just saying, we need a plan if we want to be able to do this," replied Raiku.

"He's right Luffy," said Nami. "Those guys back there were tough, even you, Sanji, and Zoro were having trouble with them."

"I don't care!" snapped Luffy. "I'm going there to kick their asses and get Robin back now!"

"Calm down Luffy," said Zoro sternly.

"For once I agree with the marimo," said Sanji. "I'm worried about Robin too, but if we just go in there without a plan we won't be able to get her back."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Chopper. "I'm worried about Robin."

"We all are little buddy," said Usopp. "But Nami will think of something, right Nami?"

"Why do you think I'm the one with the plan!" said Nami. "Anyway, I just don't know what to do."

"WHAT!" yelled Usopp. "Great," he whispered to Chopper. "Now all we have left to make up the plan are the three idiots over there."

"Yeah," Chopper agreed.

"What did you two say about us!" snapped Zoro.

"Nothing!" both of them immediately responded.

"Doesn't matter," said Raiku. "You're both wrong anyway. I've been to Berezda's base before; I remember what it looks like."

"Yeah but that was like 16 years ago right?" said Nami. "The place could be totally different now."

"Oh well it doesn't matter," he responded. "If it's our best chance of saving Robin, my memory will just have to be enough.

"Now here's what we're going to do."

...

Robin woke up still being carried by Metsumo. She didn't know how long she had been out but she figured it must have not been too long considering both Metsumo and Kotetsu were still moving at high speeds through the village.

"W-where am I?" she asked, pretending to act ignorant.

"Don't try and play the ditzy fool Robin, I know better than to fall for it," Metsumo responded. "We're going to back to the base to deliver you to Captain Berezda."

"And he is going to be so happy to finally be reunited with you," chimed in Kotetsu in a mocking voice.

"It doesn't matter," she responded. "He can do as he likes to me, it's not like my life means anything to me anymore anyway."

"Why Robin," said Kotetsu. "When did you become so masochistic? Or have you just finally given up hope of ever getting away from us."

"I've seen monsters much worse than you or Berezda in my time," said Robin.

"Oh I bet you have," responded Kotetsu. "And I'm sure Captain'll want to hear all about it once we hand you over to him. Oh, but don't worry. We'll have lots of fun entertaining your crewmates while you're busy."

"My crewmates!" Robin said shocked and worried for the crew she had formed bonds with. "All you want is me, leave them out of it!"

"You seriously believe they won't come after you?" asked Metsumo. "I'm sure with the help of that weakling; they'll be at the base by mid day tomorrow. This time I'll be sure to be ready for the Strawhat and Roronoa Zoro."

Suddenly, both Metsumo and Kotetsu came to a halt outside of a cave that was all too familiar to Robin.

"Looks like we're here," said Kotetsu with a smile. "Be sure to treat Captain with a smile now, ya hear," he added in before walking off.

As she was being carried through the corridors of the base Robin pleaded with Metsumo.

"Please, you have to promise me to not hurt them, they have nothing to do with this," she cried out.

"I've never seen you show such emotion before Robin, you must really care about this crew of yours alot. However, they have disrespected and made a mockery of the Berezda Pirates. I can only promise you this Robin. By the end of the day, all of your crew members, and that foolish weak boy, will be dead!" he said as he threw her into a room and shut the door.

Smashing on the door, Robin couldn't help but hear the laughter and looked, with fear in her eyes, at the man behind her.

"Well Robin, it has been a long time hasn't it!"

...

It was the next morning around 9:00 when the Strawhats and Raiku set out. They had their plan and were ready to execute it. I didn't take long to reach the base.

"Everyone remembers what to do?" asked Raiku.

"Yep," said Chopper.

"Got it," said Nami.

"You betcha," said Usopp.

"Heh, you expect me to forget?" said Sanji.

"I've got it," said Zoro.

"Let's do this!" shouted Luffy.

Usopp took hold of the canon they had brought from the Going Merry and positioned it correctly before starting to fire it. He continued to keep firing even after the Berezda's grunts came out to see who was attacking their base.

As the rest of the crew went to confront the grunts, Raiku went and stopped Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.

"Wait you guys!" he said.

"What is it," replied Sanji.

"Yeah can't you see we're trying to fight here," added Zoro.

"Listen; there should be a hidden entrance on the right side of the caves. It's the entrance Robin and I used to escape, remember. It should lead you right to Berezda himself."

"You want us to go there?" said Zoro.

"I know everyone wants a part in this, but the fact is you 3 are the only ones strong enough to take on people like Berezda, Metsumo, and Kotetsu. We'll lead the main attack out here and distract the cannon fodder; you guys need to get to Robin."

"But-"Sanji said.

"I understand," said Luffy. "Come on guys let's go."

Zoro and Sanji just looked at their Captain before nodding at him and following to the caves.

As he watched them go off, Raiku had only one thought. "_God help us all if those three should fail." _

With this thought in mind, he headed off to join the battle.


	10. Infiltration

Chapter 10: Infiltration

As he ran towards the battlefield Raiku watched his three new friends head off towards the door and couldn't help smiling.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING YOU STUPID MARIMO, THE ENTRANCE IS THIS WAY," he heard Sanji yell in the distance at Zoro, who was running in the completely opposite direction.

"Huh?" said Zoro. "Wait, how did I get all the way over here?!"

Looking back, Raiku hoped for the best as he headed off to help Nami, Usopp and Chopper who were trying their best to hold off the grunts at the opening of the cave. As he approached them, Nami turned back to him frantically.

"Where are those three going?" she said panicked.

"I sent them in ahead of us to enter the base and confront Berezda," he replied.

"WHAT!" Nami shouted. "And just what are we supposed to be doing out here then!"

"If we hold off the main force out here, that will leave almost no resistance for the three that are entering the base."

"And what if one of those two scary guys who came to attack our ship last night just happens to come out here!" cut in Usopp.

"Metsumo and Kotetsu won't come out here. They'll be waiting by Berezda's chambers in order to defend against someone who might accidently enter the base."

"So we have to fight all of these guys ourselves?!" said Chopper.

"Don't worry," replied Raiku. "I have faith that with your guy's help, we can hold off these guys!"

All of a sudden, the three stopped fighting and turned toward him tears streaming down their face. "You have that much faith in us?" cried Nami.

"If you have this much faith in us, then I'll have no choice but to show you the power that has made me the legend known as "Usopp the Powerful"," said Usopp, who was posing.

"D-don't think your faith and kind words make me feel appreciated, you damn bastard," said an obviously appreciative Chopper who was doing some sort of strange dance.

"Umm guys! I'm truly happy for you. Really I am. BUT IF YOU DIDN'T NOTICE I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" yelled Raiku, who was trying to hold off all of the men the three crewmates had abandoned.

...

Metsumo could hear the commotion that was going on outside.

He smiled as he knew that the Strawhats had arrived at the predicted time, and the Berezda Pirates were ready for them. He knew that the people at the front of the base would be cannon fodder for the three he and Kotetsu had faced the night before, and he knew, that any second now, he would hear the footsteps of the intruders coming in from the secret entrance they had purposely left unguarded.

"_They probably think they're so smart," _he thought to himself and he chuckled.

"What's so funny?" asked Kotetsu, who was standing next to him. "Whatever it is, I reckon it must be pretty good. I think this is the first time I've ever seen you laugh."

"We're fighting enemies that could actually give us some trouble," replied Metsumo. "How could I not be happy about fighting such strong opponents?"

"I suppose you're right," said Kotetsu. "You just better hope you don't lose partner, or I just might swoop right in and take First Mate right from you."

"Ha, someone like you could never be First Mate to a crew like the Berezda Pirates."

"You wanna bet?" shot back Kotetsu angrily. "Bring it on pretty boy, I'll give that face of yours a few-"

Kotetsu was suddenly cut off by a loud commotion down the hall.

"We'll settle this later," he said. "Looks like we got company."

As both men turned to face what was barrelling down the hall, Metsumo looked down at his arms, still covered in gauze from the wound Strawhat had given him the night before.

"_I'll pay you back for this one Strawhat," _he thought to himself. "_You can count on it."_

...

The three men stopped once they reached the chamber and saw Metsumo and Kotetsu.

"Phew," said Zoro panting." "We finally got here."

"WE WOULD'VE GOTTEN HERE A LOT SONNER IF YOU HADN'T KEPT GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!" yelled Sanji.

"Huh!" said Zoro angrily. "You were here you shitty cook, I thought only the strong members of the crew like Luffy and I were supposed to go through the secret entrance."

"I'M A HELL OF ALOT MORE SUITED TO GO ON THIS MISSON THEN THE ONE WHO COULDN'T EVEN FIND THE DAMN SECRET ENTRANCE."

"You want to make something of it?" replied Zoro.

At this point the two were about to go at it before Kotetsu intervened. He used his devil fruit powers to spin the two into looking straight ahead.

"I reckon you three got alot more to worry about then some petty argument," he said.

"He's right," said Luffy. "Hey old dude," he said pointing at Metsumo. "Where's Robin?"

"She's in the next room beyond here with our Captain," he replied. "However, you won't be able to get there until you beat us-"

"-and there ain't no way that's gonna happen," finished Kotetsu.

"Luffy," said Sanji stepping forward. "Leave these two to us; you go ahead and save Robin."

"Yeah," said Zoro, who also stepped forward.  
"Sorry, not going to happen," said Metsumo who stepped in front of Luffy. "I've got a score to settle with you Strawhat, for the injury you gave me last night."

He brought his fist down to strike Luffy, but Luffy simply jumped out the way, letting Zoro step in to block the punch with his swords.

"Roronoa, why you!" said Metsumo, gritting his teeth.

Kotetsu stepped forward to try to stop Luffy midair; however he was stopped when a straight, hard kick hit him right in the midsection.  
"Anti-Manner Kick Course!" yelled Sanji.

The kick was so strong it shot Kotetsu almost straight through the 3 foot solid steel ceiling. Falling to the ground, Kotetsu was able to regain his composure and landed on his knee before throwing up blood.

"Damn," he said catching his breath. "That one hurt you bastard."

Now unopposed, Luffy sprinted for the door and attempted to open it but couldn't.

"Hah!" said Metsumo mockingly. "That door is pure steel Strawhat, and 3 feet thick, there's no way you can get in without the key I ha-"

He was suddenly interrupted as Luffy's hands stretched backwards, and then shot straight at the door.

"Gum Gum Bazooka!"

The force of the impact sent the door bursting open.

"Impossible!" said Metsumo, dumbfounded. "Just how strong is he?"

"Heh, you have no idea," said Zoro as Luffy continued sprinting down the hall.


End file.
